How Can You Increase Your Pull Ups

Leading S+C coach Chad Waterbury works with MMA stars, figure athletes and weekend warriors alike. He believes the pull up is the ultimate test of strength relative to bodyweight, and a true measure of physical prowess – below is his simple and swift method of increasing your performance.

Of all the upper body exercises that you can choose from, the pull-up ranks at the top of the list. That’s because it builds strength and size in your upper back, arms, and gripping muscles. Specifically, I’m referring to the lats, rhomboids, mid/lower traps, rear deltoids, biceps, and forearms. You’d be hard-pressed to find another single upper body exercise that does so much good.

My male clients need to be able to perform at least 20, while females should knock off somewhere between 8-10. Of course, more is better, but this is a good starting point.

So, how can you increase your pull-ups?

There are generally two schools of thought. The first school pulls out a magnifying glass and breaks the pull-up into little bits and pieces: isolation exercises. For example, you’ll perform an exercise or two for the following body parts: forearms, biceps, rear delts, rhomboids, mid/low traps, and lats. This equates to 6-12 different exercises. Taken a step further, you would need to find time for dozens of extra sets in your current routine.

The other school says to just do the damn things. After all, the SAID principle states that your body will specifically adapt to the imposed demand. Force your body to do pull-ups on a frequent basis and you’ll be rewarded with more muscle and strength. You’ll enhance the neural connections between your nerves and muscles through the Law of Repetition.

I’m all for solutions that require the least investment of time with the greatest reward. Therefore, I adhere to the second methodology: more pull-ups will boost your pull-up performance without protracting your workouts.

The simple truth is that you don’t need to perform more than one set of maximum rep pull-ups, provided you do them every day. So let’s just say that each set lasts about a minute. If you do one set every day for four weeks, that equals 28 minutes of total time. In my experience, you’ll double (or almost double) your current performance with this simple strategy.